How the French repaid Russian soldiers who fought for their freedom in World War I

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

More than a century has passed since the troops of the Russian Expeditionary Force arrived in Europe to support France, the first world ally in the Entente bloc, in the battles. Today the French admire the valor and courage of Russian soldiers, sing praises to them and unveil monuments. Unfortunately, this was not always the case. Those who fought at Reims and Kursi, and also ended up in the Nivelle meat grinder, were awaited by execution from Russian cannons and hard labor in North Africa.

For what purpose was the Russian Expeditionary Force created, and what tasks were assigned to it?

In World War I, Russia was part of the Entente bloc. This period became the hardest test for the French Republic, so the Allied command repeatedly appealed to the Russian General Staff for help with manpower. By the personal decision of Emperor Nicholas II, the Russian Expeditionary Force (REC) of four Special Infantry Brigades was formed to strengthen the Western Front.

The first military unit, led by Major General Nikolai Lokhvitsky, arrived in Marseille in April 1916. The route lay through the Urals, Siberia, Manchuria to the port of Dalniy, and then by sea through India and the Suez Canal. In July, General Mikhail Dieterichs brought the second brigade to the western theater of military operations, the third was led by General Vladimir Marushevsky. The command of the 4th Special Brigade, which arrived at its destination in October 1916, was entrusted to Major General Maxim Leontiev.

Heroes of Kursi, Reims and other French cities

The baptism of fire of the Russian expeditionary forces in the Champagne-Ardenne region and near Fort Pompel was marked by a crushing defeat for the Germans. The Russian soldiers also won the second battle, despite the fact that the enemy launched a gas attack. In September 1916, REC forces stopped the enemy at Reims.

Thanks to the courage of the Russians, who often fought against significantly superior enemy forces, they managed to defend the famous Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral, in which almost all French kings were crowned. Military glory and recognition of valor Russian expeditionary forces won at the height of Mont-Spen in the department of Aisne, in one of the bloodiest military operations of the First World War - the Battle of Verdun, as well as in the Battle of Coursi, which became part of a large-scale operation on the front from Soissons to Reims …

"Meat grinder Nivelle", or how the offensive of the French army in 1917 ended

The next operation, scheduled for April 1917, was to complete the defeat of the German army. It was led by the French commander-in-chief Robert Nivel. In terms of the number of infantry, artillery and tanks concentrated in the place of the main attack, the offensive became the most ambitious undertaking in the entire war. But hopes for a breakthrough in the German defense and its development into a strategic victory were not justified. The attack did not bring the expected triumph, but huge losses. The Russian Expeditionary Force lost almost a quarter of its strength - about 4500 soldiers and officers.

The combined losses of France and England exceeded 300 thousand people. The operation, conceived as a grandiose offensive, turned into a bloody carnage and was called the "Nivelle Meat Grinder". The morale of the allies was undermined, and the number of deserters rose sharply.

Suppression of the La Courtine mutiny by the Russians

Tired of the bloody battles and suffering huge losses, the Russian units were sent to the military camp of La Courtine in southwestern France. It was assumed that the soldiers would rest, after which a new division would be formed, the command of which would be assumed by Lokhvitsky.

However, fate decreed otherwise. Exciting news about revolutionary events in Russia sparked anti-war sentiment. Some of the REC fighters refused to fight on the Western Front and demanded to return to their homeland. Attempts by the representatives of the Provisional Government who arrived in France to call the rebels to order were unsuccessful.

To suppress the rebellion, detachments of the French gendarmerie and Russian troops loyal to the Provisional Government under the command of General Mikhail Zankevich gathered at La Courtine. On September 1, under threat of an assault, the rioters were ordered to surrender their weapons. When the rebels refused to surrender, shelling began. After three days of fighting, the camp was taken, the instigators of the mutiny were arrested and shot.

What the French did to the former soldiers of the Russian Expeditionary Force

After the October Revolution, the REC practically ceased to exist. The fates of its participants were different. In December 1917, the French government decided to divide the Russian military into three categories. The first consisted of volunteers (about 300 people) who expressed a desire to continue fighting on the Western Front - the so-called Russian Legion of Honor. The second group consists of soldiers and officers who were offered jobs in French enterprises, which generally do not require high qualifications and are low-paid.

For representatives of the third category, recognized as dangerous for public peace and unreliable (and there were about 10 thousand of them), their further life turned into a real hard labor. They were sent to Algeria for hard forced labor, equating in status to prisoners. In the North African desert, they were prepared for monstrous living conditions, deadly heat, slave labor, and a prison for the recalcitrant and troublemakers.

How was the fate of Generals Lokhvitsky and Zankevich after the "French trip"

The end of the First World War gave the former members of the Russian Expeditionary Force the opportunity to return to their homeland. Nikolai Lokhvitsky returned to Russia in 1919. But he stayed in his homeland for only about a year. First, the general joined the troops of Admiral Kolchak, and then emigrated to China, and from there to France. Abroad, he hatched plans to overthrow the Bolsheviks, headed the monarchist society, served in the Military-Historical Commission of the French Ministry of War. He died in 1933 and is buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery.

There is also the grave of Mikhail Zankevich, who died in 1945, who also returned to his homeland in 1919, who joined the White movement there and emigrated to France after its defeat.

As a result of these waves of migration around the world whole cities were formed abroad, where the majority of the population was Russian.